This is a video slideshow of my 1994 Thru-Hike on the Appalachian Trail. I mixed the video two years later in Charlotte, NC using an old VHS camera and a mic/mixing system from the Video Editor. The technology is archaic by today’s standards but it captured the moment at the time.

The slideshow clocks in at nearly 40 minutes which is likely too long for most, and my kids tell me I sound a bit sad in the early narration. But be patient – things pick up as we close in on Katahdin.  If nothing else, it’s a look back at the A.T. in the early 90′s – before modern technology caught up with the Trail and when few hikers were equipped to record the moment – other than with a 35mm camera.

I hope to make a shorter, more upbeat, and a more modern version of this video at some point … but here it is in the original 90′s format. I hope you enjoy it. If you want to see a day-by-day log of the hike, then click this link.

ATPA 1:  Appalachian Trail Marker At The Church Of The Mountain 
ATPA 2:  At The Mason Dixon Line Just South Of The Pennsylvania Border 
ATPA 3:  Almost Stepped On This One: A Pennsylvania Rattler 
ATPA 4:  The Halfway Point On The Appalachian Trail 
ATPA 5:  The Lake A Pine Grove Furnace State Park 
ATPA 6:  Hiking Through A Farmer’s Field Enroute To Boiling Springs, PA 
ATPA 7:  The View From The AT In Boiling Springs 
ATPA 8:  Laid Back Sue, Squeeze Box, & Mad Markum Take A Break On The PATC’s Porch 
ATPA 9:  The Blue Blaze Hostel 
ATPA 10:  The Blue Mt. Eagle Climbing Club Shelter At PA 501 
ATPA 11:  Evening Relaxation At The Eagles Nest Shelter 
ATPA 12:  The End Of A Wet Hike To The Port Clinton Post Office 
ATPA 13:  Trail Magic! Fresh Pizza Delivered On The AT 
ATPA 14:  The Jailhouse Hostel In Palmerton, PA 
ATPA 15:  The End Of A Brutal Climb From Lehigh Gap 
ATPA 16:  Looking Down At Lehigh Gap And PA 873 From The Ridge 
ATPA 17:  Hiker Feed At The Presbyterian Church Of The Mountain 

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I miss my dog – not that I don’t have a new one, but I can’t forget my old one.  It was 18 months ago, when Rebel sat outside the door watching me pack for a hike to The Perch in North Georgia.  He died within ten days of that trip, and I vividly recall (and photographed) him sitting by my shop door – barking as if to join me.  Arthritis kept him from the trail in his later years, but he never gave up hope that I might take him along.

I have a new dog now, and he too has taken to the trail – as all dogs do.  Boone made the hike to the Perch last fall much as Rebel did five years earlier.  He had a great time, and I enjoyed having Boone with me.  But Rebel is never far from my mind.  He’s still with me in spirit.  He still hikes with me every trip.  Gone – but not forgotten as they say.

We all must move on at some point, and I decided the time had come.  So on what would have been Rebel’s 14^th birthday, my wife, kids and I scattered his ashes on a grave site that we set-up in the backyard.  Beneath it were buried some of his possesions: a personalized water dish (made by my wife in pottery class), his tennis balls, a blue bottle of old arthritis medicine, his toothbrush, an old stuffed toy, etc.  I put them there one year after he died in November 2011. Boone and the kids stood nearby, but my wife and I were the only ones to fully appreciate the moment. 

It has always been our plan to scatter Rebel’s ashes on the trail.  So, I saved some for the second anniversary of his death.  I have a photo of Rebel taken on the trail in November 2002 where he appears to descend from the sky.  That is the spot for his final resting place. This November my wife and I will scatter his remaining ashes for the last time – and I will finally let him go.  Farewell my friend.  

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